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How We Rescued Our Child from Anorexia,
Effecting a Complete Recovery in Just Six Months
In March 2003 our then 13 year old daughter,
Helen, was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, at which point
she was on the verge of being emaciated. Her BMI was approximately
15.
My initial reluctance to accept this diagnosis
was dispelled towards the end of the month when Helen became
severely dehydrated and suffered a complete nervous breakdown
as the anorexia finally took total control of both her mind
and body. It may sound melodramatic, but it was as if she
had become possessed. Helen’s reaction, when encouraged to
drink a glass water in order to ease the stomach cramps caused
by the dehydration, was uncharacteristically aggressive and
resulted in an hysterical screaming fit which unnerved both
myself and Fiona, my ex-wife. Helen flew into a rage and began
to scream: “IT'S WEIGHT, IT'S WEIGHT, IT'S WEIGHT!”
At this point, we realised that we had no control
over Helen whatsoever. However, by June 2003, only three months
later, Fiona and myself had broken the illness and Helen was
able to return to school. By September 2003 Helen had attained
her perfect weight and the illness had been completely eradicated
from her psyche. By January 2004, Helen was signed off by
the adolescent mental health unit, her psychiatrist commenting
that it was “one of the quickest recoveries” from mental illness
that he had ever seen.
In order to break the anorexia, my ex-wife and
myself devised a radical treatment programme which was contrary
to the advice of the medical specialists and which, for a
number of weeks, put us in direct confrontation with them.
Throughout this period, I rigorously maintained the validity
of our approach and predicted that the anorexia would be “done
and dusted” by Christmas. Helen’s psychiatrist was extremely
sceptical and was clearly concerned by what he must have perceived
as my over-confidence. The very next day, Fiona received a
phone call (May 2003) in which it was suggested that I was
actively perpetuating the illness and we were both summarily
summoned to an emergency meeting set for the following week.
However, before the meeting could take place, our approach
finally started to show results and Helen put on two pounds,
thus attaining her highest weight in two months. As a result,
the meeting became a rather muted affair and it was agreed
that we would be monitored but essentially left to continue
Helen's recovery via our own methods.
In the various sections of our website: www.escape-from-anorexia.com
we have set out to explain exactly how we rescued Helen from
this dreadful illness using a combination of diet, exercise
and confidence building measures. Helen also contributes,
providing invaluable testimony as to what it felt like to
be anorexic and explaining how we, her parents, were able
to break the iron grip that the anorexic mindset had upon
her.
We are not necessarily advocating our strategies
to anybody else but we do sincerely hope that our account
of Helen’s record-breaking recovery may present some useful
insights which might make a difference to you and your child.
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About the Author:
Peter Morrisson http://www.escape-from-anorexia.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Morrisson
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